China's stock-index futures got off to a strong start on Friday even as the main market extended declines to a second week, on concerns that the government will take stronger measures to slow economic growth.
China's State Council gave a green light to the introduction of index futures late last year. The move to launch stock-index futures follows the recent introduction of margin trading and short-selling in the equity markets.
All four futures contracts based on the benchmark CSI 300 index posted strong gains.
At the midday trading break, the most actively traded CSI 300 May futures contract was up 1% at 3,433.60, after rising as high as 3,488 earlier in the session. The June contract was up 2.2% at 3,472, the September contract jumped 4% to 3,534.20 and the December contract rose 5.2% to 3,576.
The underlying CSI 300 index, a benchmark measuring the performance of 300 large-capital and actively traded stocks in Shanghai as well as Shenzhen, was down 0.7% at 3,369.90.
The China Financial Futures Exchange - a bourse jointly founded in Sept. 2006 - had set the base value for all four futures contracts at 3,399.